


A Second Chance

by Red Charade (traciller)



Series: Flash Tumblr Ficlets [25]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Kidnapping, Lisa and Len have different mothers, M/M, No Dialogue, Running Away, assumed names, mention of murder, mentions of domestic abuse, no powers au, open-ended ending, professor!Barry, single dad Len
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 23:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6304384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Len raised Lisa completely away from Lewis? What if he took her somewhere and pretended that he was her father and didn't turn to a life of crime?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> The kidnapping tag is really just there because under the law what Len did is kidnapping.

Len’s mother died when he was very small so she wasn’t there to help protect him. Lisa’s mother, though, did the best she could until she realized there was no helping this situation except by one way and it was so unfair to Len and Lisa both. But, then, their whole lives were unfair. At least this way she could maybe give them a shot.

One day when Len is 17 and Lisa is 3, Lisa’s mother takes Len aside and hands him an envelope while his father is still at work. She tells him that she wants him to do some things for her and not to ask any questions.

Len is confused, but he likes Lisa’s mom and so he agrees even as he looks at her with the questions he promised not to ask reflected in his eyes.

She has him sit down at the kitchen table while she makes an early supper, Lisa playing within sight in the living room. While she cooks she explains to him that she knows he and his baby sister were dealt a bad hand in life and she’s sorry for that. And she’s sorry that she hasn’t been able to make it better, but that she’s going to do her best to give them a shot at something better than what’s going on right now later on tonight.

Len is totally confused, wondering if she’s finally gone crazy with the way she’s talking, too many times the old man knocked her head into the wall maybe. He winced at the memory of the last time he heard that happen, the last time he saw it happen. He stays quiet, though, because he promised not to question and he likes Lisa’s mom well enough to obey her as if she were his mom. He watches her every move.

She tells him that she wants him to take Lisa away tonight, after the supper she’s cooking has been eaten. She packed them things, and an extra meal, and got them a car. That in the envelope he’ll find instructions, as well as ID for both of them. But, not with their names. Len will go by Leof Norman after tonight, and Lisa will be Teresa Norman. He won’t be her big brother anymore, he’ll be her father and instead of calling her “sis” he is to call her “honey” and “sweetie” and “darlin” and all the nice names that dads are supposed to use for their kids, especially their young kids and their daughters, that their real dad never used for them. And he should take care of his baby sister the best way he can. Get a job, keep their heads down, send Lisa to school when the time is right and all the things they’ll need to do to look legit with Len being a single man traveling with a tiny girl.

Memorize any instructions on the list that are long-term and then burn it. Anything that isn’t ashes should be ground underneath his shoe until it is.

She says she knows it isn’t fair, but it’s better than what they’ve had so far.

As she puts the food in front of Len and brings Lisa in from the living room to eat, too, Len asks what about her. He knew he promised her not to ask questions, and he gathered she wouldn’t be going with them, but…why?

She tells him not to worry about her and to do as she says, and that no matter what he might see on the news later he is never to return or to contact her. Except for 6 months after this night. If he’s still with Lisa and they’re still on their own and still okay and nobody’s been following them or giving them weird looks or hassling them, Len is to drive 200 miles out of his way and send a blank postcard to wherever she is to let her know they’re okay. And after that nothing else, ever. No more postcards, no letters, no phone calls, no packages, no money, no visits. No matter what.

He nods numbly and mulls everything over, desperately wanting to question her more, to tell her this is a crazy plan and probably won’t work and will just piss off the old man worse and they’ll ALL get it from him, or to at least change the plan so that she can come with them or meet them somewhere and they can all be together, because Lisa needs her mom. But, he says none of that because he promised. And because somewhere in his mind, he does get what’s going on and he knows the plan can’t be changed now.

So he eats and he watches Lisa eat, and he watches Lisa’s mom pack two lunch boxes with food, and some tupperware containers, too. Watches her set it all aside in two bags. Len reaches over and helps Lisa wipe her mouth (she doesn’t like it).

She kisses them both on the forehead and cheeks when she sends them away after supper, tells Len to take care of his baby sister and tells Lisa to be good and that Mommy loves her. Then she looks at Len sand says she loves them both. Then she ushers him out the door with Lisa in his arms, car already packed.

Later that night he has butterflies in his stomach because he’s afraid things will go wrong and their dad will find them and punish them worse than ever before, that something horrible will happen to Lisa’s mom, that they’ll simply be found out and taken back home. That Lisa will be put in foster care and Len will be arrested for kidnapping and barred from ever seeing his baby sister again.

But, he takes a breath and ignores the butterflies and drives out of town in the car Lisa’s mom got for them (he didn’t ask about that either) to the place the instructions say will be safe for a while. There, he changes the way they look as per the instructions. Some hours later, they hit the road again, Lisa sleeping in the backseat.

The next morning, Len and Lisa have made good progress. He’s only a little shocked to see on the news that a Central City woman shot her husband, a police officer, in the head last night and has been arrested. He knows who the woman is. He also sees a bit of information about missing kids, and he calmly packs up Lisa and they drive away.

By some miracle, they’re still free and clear at the 6th month mark. He had expected they’d be caught by now, but apparently Lisa’s mom had been planning this for a long time, did her homework, set everything up right and he followed her instructions to a T. He followed the story in the news when he could and he knows where she is and he sends her that postcard like he promised. Blank and with no return address. It’s winter so nobody thinks it’s weird that he uses gloves.

They move on again. Several times before Len settles somewhere and gets a job in a garage fixing cars. It doesn’t pay a lot, but it pays enough.

Turns out that even today nobody really questions a grown man a little girl traveling together, so long as the little girl calls the grown man “Daddy” and the grown man calls the little girl “Punkin.”

When Lisa is 5 Len enrolls her in kindergarten. They were still traveling around during the years she should’ve been in preschool. But, he had researched what they did in preschool these days and had done those things for her himself and so she wasn’t behind with the other kids when she started kindergarten. In fact, she was a little ahead and he got reports that she was very bright and a delight to have in the classroom, even if she was mischievous at times.

When Lisa is 7 they move out of the apartment they were living in and into a small but nice house with a yard and adopts a dog. Lisa had wanted a parrot but it didn’t take her long to fall in love with the dog instead. He still hears about that parrot sometimes, though.

When Lisa is 8, Len meets an adorable and nerdy forensics professor who works at the nearby college named Barry Allen at the grocery store and they’ve started some tentative flirting.

When Lisa is 8.5, Len begins to introduce Barry to her gradually. Brief little encounters where he calls Barry his “friend.” Gradually, as things get more and more serious and seem more and more solid between them, he increases the quantity and duration of the meetings, and by the time Lisa is 9.5 she finally knows Barry is Len’s boyfriend.

Well…as it turned out she’d figured that out before he told her because she’s smart as a whip and when Thanksgiving was coming up he overheard her telling a friend from school that “Daddy’s boyfriend is coming to Thanksgiving, it’s cute he thinks I don’t know.” At that point it seemed ridiculous to hide from her.

There are only a few problems, though. Len really wishes he could ask Barry to call him Len instead of Leo, but he had no way to explain it. He wishes he could come clean to Barry about their past, about the truth that even Lisa doesn’t remember, especially since Barry’s told him about the whole thing with his parents. But, the reason he’s so hesitant is the same reason he keeps putting off meeting Barry’s family. Barry is from Central City and the man who raised him is a CCPD detective.

He doesn’t want to lose Barry, but he doesn’t want to lose Lisa either. And he will be damned if not only will he NOT lose Lisa but he will NOT let Lisa’s mom’s sacrifice be for nothing. If Len has to sacrifice his own happiness for that, he will.

**Author's Note:**

> Despite all those tags, many of which are probably unnecessary, I still feel like I'm missing some. :p
> 
> In my head, Barry and Len meet at the grocery store when their carts accidentally bump going around a corner.


End file.
